The present invention relates generally to aerial combat training systems and, more specifically, to a device for producing smoke signals indicative of a simulated missile firing or a simulated missile hit in an aerial combat training system.
Aerial combat training systems are used by the military to train both air and ground-based personnel in the use of missile systems. Such systems may be air-to-air or surface-to-air. Such systems simulate the firing of a missile and indicate whether the target aircraft would have been hit if an actual missile had been fired. Electronics at the location from which the simulated missile is fired directs a radar or laser beam toward the target aircraft, which has electronics that detects whether the beam impinges upon it. If the beam impinges upon the target aircraft, the target aircraft electronics produces a data signal indicating a "hit." A ground station receives the hit detection data from the target aircraft electronics via a radio link. The airborne electronics may be located in a missile-shaped training pod that is attached to the aircraft in the same manner as a real missile. The training pod may be fashioned to duplicate the weight and aerodynamic behavior of a real missile.
The aircraft itself is not modified in any way to accommodate the training pod. Thus, in the case of an air-to-air firing simulation, personnel at the ground station must radio the pilot of both aircraft to tell them the outcome of a missile firing. Similarly, in the case of a surface-to-air firing simulation, personnel at the ground station must radio the firing personnel to tell them whether they have hit the aircraft and must radio the pilot of the aircraft to tell him whether he has been hit. There is thus a need in the art to automatically provide air and ground personnel involved in the simulation with indications of the outcomes of simulated missile firings.
The present invention solves these problems by using a smoke generator aboard the target aircraft to indicate whether a missile has "hit" the target aircraft or aboard an attacking aircraft to indicate whether it has "fired" a missile. Smoke generators known in the art commonly have a resistance coil that burns or boils oil or other fluid received from a fluid supply to produce smoke. However, the resistance coil requires a large amount of electric current, and the training pod has no means for receiving sufficient electrical power from the aircraft; nor can the pod carry a sufficiently large battery for operating a smoke generator over extended periods of time without exceeding the weight of the missile it is designed to simulate. In addition, it would be desirable to minimize the amount of fluid carried to both minimize weight and to avoid problems caused by shifting weight as the fluid is used. These problems and deficiencies are clearly felt in the art and are solved by the present invention in the manner described below.